Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I received the fleece from Ohio and it's quite nice! I was a bit concerned because of the low price - I'll definitely look into buying from this seller again. I'll be working on it as time allows to flick the ends open prior to washing. Nice, long staple, too! I can't wait to dye some of the locks up and then try tail spinning with them.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Almost forgot! I finally finished the Catskill Mountain Shawl # 1! ... behind all of my test knitters. Shame on me! I'm going to put it to soak today and dye it tomorrow. Once it's blocked & photos are taken I can finally publish the pattern for sale. I'm thinking of offering a discount, if there is any interest, on the price of the pattern if a knit-a-long might be formed. I hope that people might have interest in this worsted weight shawl that is circular with a split to the middle - totally wrap around.

I have the next CMS on needles and have started patterning. This one will be a half circle... the next one may be triangular.

I did purchase the fleece mentioned in the post below. Just waiting on it to arrive. If it's half as clean as the Cormo I started working on I'll consider myself extremely fortunate.

I spread a sheet on the kitchen table and FINALLY opened up the Cormo fleece. Other than the tips, this stuff is so darn clean and gorgeous. I took some and flicked out the ends and put it in a mesh bag. Took another couple of handfuls and left it 'as is' and put that in a second bag and washed & rinsed both bags. Of course the flicked stuff is perfect and so white! The other is pretty darn nice, too, but I will be flicking all of the ends open prior to washing. I'm going to grab the flicked/washed wool and spin it today to see how much grease might be left in it since I only did one wash. I didn't want to totally get rid of all of the lanolin - I think I pretty much succeeded. Blace would like me to flick some and then dye it prior to washing to see dye results with grease. Sounds like a plan so I'll probably do so this week.

RE: Jelly Yarn. I heard from the Jelly Yarn people regarding my post about using it as drive belts for our spinners. Wonderfully nice email!! Of course this boosted my interest in their product more so and I went exploring their site. I believe that I'm going to purchase their finer weight jelly yarn to make something for Andrea (daughter). Andrea likes really funky, cool stuff and with her new job at her very favorite clothing store I know she'll want to wear unusual items as per her typical style. I'm thinking vest, or something along that line. Maybe with some glass beads -- or better yet -- pony beads! Andrea is nuts about neon colored plastic pony beads, and the glow in the dark versions. I bet the jelly yarn would work up well with those, too!

Hard to believe our baby is going to be 18 years old on the 22nd. It's difficult not having her here at home, too. Blace & I both miss her, sometimes to the point of distraction. Granted, there were times when she made us crazy but I miss her rantings about the government, gas prices, food prices, and the dogs. I also miss watching her fav TV shows with her - Top Model, Project Runway, Tabitha whatserface Salon Makeover, Jeopardy... Damn! We haven't seen her in almost 2 weeks now since she's living with a friends family to make her jobs more accessible. Lately I've been somewhat sorry about moving so far up into the boonies/mountains. We didn't think that far in advance 8 years ago when we bought this house. We did realize a couple of years ago that when Andrea got out of high school we'd have issues with her working & college... we bought the Suzuki last year so she'd have something to drive but didn't anticipate gas being so obscenely expensive that she'd not want to commute and would ultimately find a place to stay. *sigh* I miss my baby! Can ya tell? :)

Spent the past few days carding batts with leftover bits of wool from my last dyeing adventure. I have some pretty stuff here! I also received a recent order of glizty stuff and was able to do my test knitter, Patricia's batt up this morning. I loaded that batt with EVERYTHING! Merino, Romney, mohair, angelina fiber, bamboo, tencel, and crystalina. Patricia seems to like the same types of stuff that I do for spinning so I hope she'll be happy to receive it. I'll ship it out to her on Monday.

Ahhh... spinning! I have a bit of roving from Rowen left to finish up into a single today and then I really need to finish the Novelty & Art Yarn challenge from August with the stuff I received from Melanie in Australia. I'm way overdue on posting finished photos, must get on the ball and get things caught up! I then have to take photos of the September challenge ingredients that I received from Fabienne in Germany this past week. I still have no idea how I'm going to approach that challenge but I'm sure something will come to me.

Also have to test the yarn yardage counter set-up that Blace rigged for me by running the July Earth batt yarn through it. I also need to photograph that finished yarn and post photos prior to using it -- I already have a project chosen for it and have it queued #1 with Ravelry. Have to press and seam the Norah Gaughan "Curren" that I finished two weeks ago. The millifiore buttons arrived a few days ago for it and that should provide incentive to complete the sweater.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

I contacted someone advertising Border Leicester fleece for sale - 5lbs for $20. Seems like a good deal, the sheep was blanketed, some grease in the tips. The seller contacted me and as soon as shipping charges are figured out I'll complete the purchase. It'll be coming from Ohio.

I've read up on this wool and it seems to be suitable for outerwear garments. I wonder if after I get it picked through if I'll have enough to spin up for a short coat?!? I'm already visualizing colorways and spinning ideas for it!

I still have all of that (7lbs) Cormo to process! I've been hesitant to wash it because it's just so beautiful and I love the feel of the lanolin on my hands. Must be brave. I think that I'll grab some today and get it washed up to see how it goes - now that I type this I'm almost anxious to spin it. :)

I spun up one full batt of wool from Rowen of the "Fiber Swap Club" on Ravelry last night and love the way it came out. I rolled the batt length-wise, twisted it up a bit and drafted it out. I have the second batt drafted the same and ready to start.

As soon as this damn tachycardia that I've been experiencing since crawling out of bed stops I'll get started on one thing or the other. I've been sitting here since 11:30am, doing pretty much nothing, sweating and feeling light headed. The methods recommended for stopping the rapid heart rates just aren't doing the trick. When I experience this I can't do a thing because exhaustion sets in immediately and I become short of breath and shaky. Sucks! I'll give doc a call tomorrow and try to get an appointment ASAP. I think its time for cardiac meds in addition to all of the others that I take. *sigh*

Hubby finally shortened the treadle on Eve - he had built a new foot pedal for her and the old treadle was about an inch or two too long to work with the new pedal. It's been quite some time since I've worked with this wheel because I've been testing/using all of the new electric ones that he has been building.

I put a 'jelly yarn' drive belt on her tonight - had been using cotton and a poly belt combination with some issues - and the jelly belt works like a charm! Great stuff, this so called yarn. We're also using it on the electrics. Very strong, limited stretching, no thinning that we've seen as of yet. $10 a skein, 65 yards, I'm going to have to get more to keep on hand.

So, I got out some swap batts and started spinning. I didn't realize how much I missed using this wheel! I drafted the next batt and will start again in the morning. :)